In March 2025, former world half-marathon document holder Kibiwott Kandie of Kenya was provisionally suspended for evading, refusing or failing to undergo pattern assortment. He was subsequently charged with tampering on Could 6. On Thursday, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) introduced that Kandie has been suspended till March 2032 after he admitted to refusing to submit a group pattern and committing tampering violations.
The AIU has banned Kibiwott Kandie (Kenya) for 7 years from 14 March 2025 for Refusal to Undergo Pattern Assortment, and Tampering. DQ outcomes from 1 March 2025. Particulars right here:https://t.co/uwbsLiFSXfhttps://t.co/CaN4o6LnhY pic.twitter.com/JMdTgiMJw4
— Athletics Integrity Unit (@aiu_athletics) June 25, 2026
The investigation
In March 2025, a doping management officer and a chaperone visited Kandie in Kenya to conduct an out-of-competition take a look at. After signing the digital doping management kind, he was required to offer samples, however as an alternative delayed the method by making a number of cellphone calls earlier than leaving to handle what he claimed was an pressing building problem at one other residence.
Following his provisional suspension, Kandie submitted a Certificates of Software for an Environmental Impression Evaluation to the Nationwide Surroundings Administration Authority (NEMA), stating that it confirmed he was urgently wanted on the building web site. In line with the AIU, additional investigation decided the doc was a faux.
The AIU additionally investigated Kandie’s cellphone information and monetary information and located he had made 11 funds to a non-public nurse over 12 months. Investigators additionally discovered that the calls he made through the tried take a look at have been to the nurse, not a building firm, as he claimed.
Canadian Olympic medallist Alysha Newman handed whereabouts suspension
Kandie accepted the costs on Could 6, and the AIU confirmed Thursday that he’ll serve a seven-year ban. It stays unclear whether or not Kandie’s outcomes and occasions might be faraway from official race information.
First to run sub-58
On the 2020 Valencia Half-Marathon, Kandie turned the primary athlete in historical past to run sub-58 minutes over 21.1K. His mark of 57:32 sliced 29 seconds off the earlier world document held by his compatriot, Geoffrey Kamworor.
The world half-marathon document has been lowered twice since then—first by Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelchawho ran 57:30 at Valencia in October 2024, and once more in March 2026, when Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo ran 57:20 in Lisbon. Ultimately 12 months’s Barcelona Half-Marathon, Kiplimo ran an excellent sooner mark of 56:42, which was later dominated invalid as a result of help from a lead tempo automotive.
